Gov't, rebels accused of slowing progress at ICD

Delegates of opposition parties at the inter-Congolese dialogue in Sun City, South Africa, demanded at the weekend that DRC president, Joseph Kabila, and the leaders of the country's two main rebel movements attend the ongoing talks.

A communique issued on 6 April, and signed by 14 (out of a total of 19) opposition parties, blamed the absence of these leaders and particularly the absence of President Kabila for the lack of progress made in the dialogue's two key committees, the political and legal committee and the defence committee. The communique accused the government of deliberately blocking the negotiations, which officially end on 12 April.

The armed opposition movements announced that their leaders, Adolphe Onusumba of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and Jean Pierre Bemba of the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC), would be arriving in Sun City imminently. The DRC minister for information, Kikaya Bin Karubi, responded by saying that Kabila's presence was not essential to the negotiations, "even if he appears for the closure".

Sources from the office of the facilitator reported that talks in the political committee went well at the end of last week, with the government agreeing for the first time to discuss the institution of the presidency, while reiterating that the post would not be vacant before elections.

On Friday, the civil society delegation issued a communique proposing that Kabila remain as president, and that a prime minister be chosen from the rebel movements with other ministers coming from the opposition. This proposal appeared to mark a break in the alliance between the civil society group, and the rebel groups and unarmed opposition. In the public declarations issued since Friday, RCD-Goma, MLC, and the unarmed opposition have continued to insist that a transition president must be approved at the dialogue.

Immediately after the civil society communique was issued, dissident members of the group accused their colleagues of accepting bribes. Civil society spokesman Anatole Matusila responded that this was "the usual argument of losers".

Meanwhile, South African President Thabo Mbeki was expected in Sun City on Monday as part of an effort to unblock the talks. "South Africa, as the host of the DRC talks, has an interest to ensure that the Congolese people find one another and push back the frontiers of war," AFP quoted presidential spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, as saying on Sunday.